Franklin Township officials have invited all residents to next week’s town hall meeting where the melee that erupted outside the high school’s homecoming dance will be discussed.

The meeting, at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 9, at the Sampson G. Smith School at 1649 Amwell Road, will be mediated by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Community Relations Service representative Reinaldo Rivera.

The CRS does not investigate incidents, but rather helps towns resolve racial or ethnic conflicts through mediation.

“The purpose of the meeting is to gather suggestions from residents about how we can go forward, it isn’t really to talk about anything that’s being done by the police or not being done by police or board of education,” Deputy Mayor Daniel Glicklich said at last week’s council meeting. “These are ideas to help build the community and help us go forward.”

Last month’s altercation between students and police left four officers and one student injured, 12 people arrested, and an outraged community looking for answers.
In addition, the incident sparked a series of meetings and investigations by school, police and township officials.

Glicklich said Rivera will give each person two minutes to speak and is encouraging residents to put their suggestions in writing so that they can be reviewed later.

On Tuesday, a handful of residents said they were frustrated with meetings that weren’t producing immediate results.

“The only thing I see going forward is another meeting,” said resident John Tibbs. “The only way you’re going to move forward in this town is by action.”

Another resident, Dave Richards, agreed and called for increased sensitivity training for police officers.

“We’re having meetings looking to move forward, but we’re not doing anything. There must be some pro-active measure that can be taken with the police department as opposed to just writing editorials in the newspapers,” he said, referring to a letter written by Franklin Township Police Benevolence Association President Mark Rossman, defending officers involved in the incident.

Councilwoman Kimberly Francois said she was confident that Rivera’s community approach would help heal the community and views the meeting as an opportunity to allow residents to participate in the solution.

“If people come with recommendations that we can take a look at and consider then we will take the right action because it will be based on community input and feedback,” she said.

Francois added that although the process is slow, it is ongoing.

“We are taking action, it may appear that it’s not enough action, but we need to be calculated in our action,” she said, stressing the importance of thorough investigations. “I feel confident that if we get that community input we will be able to make some positive strides going forward.”

Mayor Brian Levine also reaffirmed his confidence in the process saying that the meetings open lines of communication that would lead to better community relations.

“If it’s left in our hands, nothing is going to get done because we need the community,” he said, encouraging residents to come to the meeting and contact the council with suggestions about how to address the incident. “That’s how we’re going to go forward as a community.”